


Be Chilled

by thebookmen2



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Michael Has a Squip, F/F, F/M, Glitches, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Mountain Dew, Panic Attacks, References to Drugs, Rich suffers, Shared Squip, Weed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-03-18 08:38:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13678155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebookmen2/pseuds/thebookmen2
Summary: “You helped me get it,” he held the pill closer to Michael, “we should both benefit from it right?” the hopeful smile on Jeremys face would be the death of Michael one day, he just knew it.ORBoyf riends who squip together, stay together.





	1. The snip for Mr Squip

**Author's Note:**

> Ah boy i couldnt help myself I'm sorry, be more chill kind of took over my life so much so that i even made part of a dialogue animatic (which is where this thought hit me in the face and wouldnt let go) I already put half the play together with animatics and the stage production, why not go the whole way and just write some fan fiction about it too?

The food court was the centre of sound in the whole shopping mall, so loud that Michael doubted that his headphones could block it all out. But it didn’t matter if they could or not, because Michael was in the food court with Jeremy and so far in their friendship he had not once felt the need to drown the world out when he was around his best friend. More so now than ever as they snagged an empty table, large chilly fries, mountain dew and a squip between them. 

“Well,” Jeremy sighed, rolling the grey pill between his thumb and forefinger, “I hope you’re worth $400,” 

Michael fished the grocery bag from under the table, “uh, 400 and 1,” he laughed nervously as he placed the bag between them and pulled it down to reveal the already condensation covered fluoro green bottle, “Don’t forget the mountain dew,” there was a pause as they both stared at the drug in Jeremys fingers. Jeremys’ chest felt tight with anticipation, his mind racing through simulation after simulation of how this could turn out, the possibilities becoming so overwhelming he needed to voice the positive outcome. Michael would understand, Michael would tell him if this was a bad idea. 

“If this works,” He began, drawing his friend’s attention back to himself and not the pill, “my whole life could change,” Michael didn’t say anything as Jeremy opened his fist and let the pill roll to the dip in his palm harmlessly. His whole life could change. He would become cool, chill and or popular even. Everything could turn out just the way he wanted it to…he wanted to share that with Michael. “We should split it,” his mouth ran ahead of him before his mind could think, but the more he let it the more _right_ it sounded. “You helped me get it,” he held the pill closer to Michael, “we should both benefit from it right?” the hopeful smile on Jeremys face would be the death of Michael one day, he just knew it. 

“I don’t think-” Michael tried, his words slamming on the breaks at those big blue eyes staring down at him all full of faith and eagerness. He looked back down at the grey oblong pill in his friends’ palm to let his head stop spinning from the breathtaking experience that was Jeremy Heeres eyes. _Damn it Mell_ , he thought to himself as he searched for a pair of scissors in Jeremys bag, _why does my gay ass have to be so weak?_ Jeremy sat straighter in his seat, a pleased smile tugging at his lips as Michael snatched the 400 dollar pill from his hand and placed it on their chilly fries’ napkin. 

“You sure about this?” he asked as he tested the pill with the blade, it was solid and didn’t appear to be holding liquid or smaller minerals like other pills, almost like chalk. _Grey oblong chalk pill. Hm, didn’t have the same ring to it, guess that’s why they left that detail out in their creepy song._ Jeremy nodded his head, determination settling over his shoulders prompting Michael to continue with the blade. He pushed it down roughly, making Jeremy cup his hands around the damn thing so it didn’t fly off into someone’s burger or some comedic shit like that. He was glad he made him do it as one half jumped and knocked Jeremys hand harmlessly as the other half stayed put. Michael blinked, swearing he saw blue sparks in those cupped hands. Maybe someone took a photo somewhere and it caught his glasses?

“Well,” Jeremy plucked his half from the napkin and Michael did the same, “here goes no-” he stopped himself, nervous smile playing at his lips, “well, everything,” Michael clanked his pill against Jeremys as if they were toasting a drink. 

“To everything,” he smiled, maybe now Jeremy wouldn’t be too cool to play video games, they would both be too cool to play video games. Together. Like always. 

“To everything,” Jeremy repeated, warmth filling his chest as he tossed the pill down his throat, uncapped the mountain dew and took a swig. Michael followed his lead, mint bursting on his tongue before Jeremy handed him the mountain dew to wash it down with artificial sugar. They waited. Staring at each other for a reaction before Michael couldn’t help but break the silence. 

“Was it minty to you?” he asked, Jeremy nodded swiftly, “H-How do you feel?” he stumbled on his words as he mentally checked himself. His hands were shaking, but they always did that when he was nervous, and he still had a bit of mint left on his tongue, maybe he should wash that down with more mountain dew. 

“Liiiiiiiiike…” his friend searched the air for the words, “Like a chump!” Jeremy sighed, sinking deeper into his seat and hiding his head in his arms. 

“Ugh! Nothing?” Michael threw his arms up in the air, “maybe like, try to say something cool,” he prompted, poking his friends head that was hopefully not bleeding from the hard slam onto the table. 

“I think I just blew my Bar Mitzvah money on a winter green tic-tac,” he mumbled through his arms with a painfully draw out whine.

Michael slumped back into his chair, “Yeah not cool,” he closed his eyes, still searching inside himself. Maybe they shouldn’t have split it. Maybe it didn’t work when it was split. It was a super computer, what happens when a supercomputer only has half its programing? Malfunctions that’s what. Michael blew Jeremys bar mitzvah money, all because he couldn’t say no to those watery blue eyes. 

“Just-leave me alone to mourn in my chilly fries forever,” Jeremy moaned, blindly grabbing a few and shoving them into his hidden face. Yeah, that was fair, Michael wouldn’t want to see himself either if he just wasted 400 dollars on destroying Jeremys one chance to be popular. Well one chance in his mind, Michael just had to hold him out until collage, just like he promised. 

“5 minutes!” Michael announced, standing up from his chair, “but then I’m meeting you right back here,” he threatened as Jeremy raised his head from his arm cave. 

“Where are you going?” he asked in a small voice and Michael had to turn up the enthusiasm dial before he cracked under Jeremys eyes again. 

“This guy at spencers gifts is hookin’ me up with a case of crystal pepsi,” he squealed under his breath, oh boy was he excited to taste vintage crystal pepsi, and Jeremy will be too once Michael drags his conned ass back to his basement to open up a few of them with his new bag of weed and video games. “It’s like regular pepsi, just clear!” he clarified, however he knew Jeremy knew about it, he had lectured his clueless friend on the delights of crystal pepsi weeks ago when they discovered it was a real thing thanks to the internet. 

“Yeah, but wasn’t that discontinued in the 90’s?” Jeremy grinned a little up at him, pride swelled in his chest at making Jeremy smile so quickly after a hard blow, even if his friend was just humouring him. 

“That’s what makes it so awesome!” he exclaimed as they fist pumped their goodbye and Michael skipped through the crowd, turning up his music and blasting it in his ears as he made his way to spencers gifts. Jeremy would be ok. He just needed time. Time and video games.


	2. Crystal Panic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael activates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to write the title of the next chapter before i went to sleep but my finger slipped and I was so motivated i kind of wrote another chapter just now. Who needs sleep am i right? 
> 
>    
> AUTHORS NOTE:  
> [words] = Squip  
>  _'words'_ = Jeremy  
>  _*words*_ = Michael 
> 
> Extra:   
> _Words_ = just whoever's point of view immediate thoughts are
> 
> ^ keep that in mind.

“Dude, I don’t know, like, fifty bucks?” the obviously tired of this world spencers gifts employee offered, the box of crystal pepsi sitting limply on the counter. 

“Fifty!?” Michael hissed, “This isn’t gold pepsi man, its only crystal. Twenty,” Michael haggled, taking out the note and making sure he didn’t shift the obvious hundred in his wallet. He had prepared for a competent battle of the prices, but luckily for him dude on his sixth coffee was what he got. He could work with this. 

“I don’t know, man,” the employee rubbed at his pimpled chin as Michael waved the twenty in his face. 

“Fine,” Michael sighed dramatically, shuffling through his wallet for a 10, “Twenty for the pepsi and ten for you,” he stage whispered the last bit just for the employee, interest sparking in those cold dead retailers eyes. 

“You got yourself a deal,” the man smirked, taking the thirty from Michaels fingers and placing the twenty in the register and the ten in his pocket, “don’t like die on this stuff bro, it’s hella old,” the retailer warned as Michael wrapped his arms around the box, high on the joy of such a cheap win. 

“Oh I will-” Michael chocked on his words, arms flying back from the box as he fell backwards. His head hit the floor hard, he gasped for breath as his world spun on its heal, flashes of blue static flowing across his vision as his body exploded from the inside out. 

‘[Ta* _34fe_ mal8& **$0!ac** cessable]’ 

Michael cried out curling into himself as electricity sparked through his joints, static jumping through his head. 

‘[ **Calib(*# &@ess-**ess-ess^*&Mild disco _mfort_ ],’ 

“Mild?!” Michael yelped and became aware of a body leaning over him only when his body jolted to the side without his say, knocking into a bony pair of knees. “Warning! Warning! Warning! Error!” his voice screamed out on its own, the words echoing in his brain leaving a technical tinge. 

‘[C(*@&com **plete** 0 _011100_ 01100 **01** 100110access procedure@()!#$]’ 

Michael gasped, sweat seeping through his jacket as he tried to remember that breathing was a thing. 

“Bad trip, bro?” the employee asked, keeping his arms up as to not touch Michael however being comforting as much as he could. Michael whined, a noise Jeremy would have made fun of for weeks if he where there. 

“I-I’m fine,” he rasped, throat raw and body fringed from whatever electrical wire set off in his brain. 

“Just let it come dude, no need to be ashamed,” the employee gave him a manly pat on the back, which sent sparks up his spine and static to his brain. Whatever the man was saying after that was lost in the ones and zeros scrolling rapidly across his vision. 

****  
//calibration  
while (brain = getNext(bar)) {  
filterThis = false;  
if (condition1) {  
ctrl();  
filter12 = true  
if (condition2) {  
erase();  
filter18 = glob();  
}  
}  
if (! Filter18) {  
process(foo);  
}  
} 

**-Complete**

**//neural memory**  
Spine2.5 = replace(squip2.5,"@", " ", scope="all");  
Brain2.5 = replace(squip2.5,"*", " ", scope="all");  
Nerves2.5 = replace(squip2.5,".", " ", scope="all"); 

**-Complete**

**//muscle memory**  
; bring in the match library:  
(muscle2.5/match) 

**; eval matches on the type of expression:**  
(define (eval exp env) (match exp  
[`(,f ,e) (apply (eval f env) (eval e env))]  
[`(λ ,v . ,e) `(closure ,exp ,env)]  
[(? symbol?) (cadr (assq exp env))])) 

**; apply destructures the function with a match too:**  
(define (apply f x) (match f  
[`(closure (λ ,v . ,body) ,env)  
(eval body (cons `(,v ,x) env))])) 

**-Complete  
**

Michael rolled away from the employee, grabbing at his eyes and realising his glasses where missing now due to the blurry world being pulled in by stinging eyes. He stopped clawing at his glassless eyes before he pulled them out, laying completely still as the first coherent words whispered in his ear belonged to no one. 

“[Jeremy Heere. Welcome to your Super Unit Intel Processor],” a male voice greeted his best friend, Michael mouthed the next words along with the voice, realisation and awe crashing into him full force, “[your squip.]” 

Abruptly, Michael sat upright, head nearly colliding with the spencers gifts dude, “glasses!” he demanded, his hands sweeping across the floor around him before a familiar black blur levelled to his eyes. 

“Here dude, don’t forget your pepsi,” Michael snatched them rudely from the fingers and shoved his glasses up his nose, the world spinning again before his eyes adjusted again. He visibly shook himself before attempting to stand, swaying on his legs like a new born deer until he leaned heavily onto the counter. “Be careful with those shrooms little guy,” the employee was saying as Michael dragged the box towards him again and hooked it under his arm, “Hope I don’t get your batch, brah,” 

Michael tried to give the man a thank you at least, maybe he should have tossed an extra hundred at him for dealing with whatever weird seizer squip activation he had just witnessed, but all that could come out of his mouth was, “Jeremy, I have to find Jeremy,” he winched internally at himself, however the man gave him no trouble after that as Michael stumbled out of that shit show and probably into another. 

_'Is that Keanu Reeves?! '_

Michael swatted at his ear as he stormed back to where he last saw Jeremy. 

_'Oh god I’m making a fool out of myself in front of Christine.'_

His head whipped to the side at his best friends crushes name, searching out the source of the voice. 

_'X-men!?'_

Frustrated, he entered the noise that was the food court, unbearable enough to make him pull his headphones over his ears. He stopped in front of the table he and Jeremy had just occupied, not even a scrap of chilli fries or empty bottle of mountain dew left for him to find. 

Mountain dew. 

Suddenly, Michael’s throat reminded him of how dry and raw it was at the moment with a throb. Electric zaps rip through his muscles and he flinches, stumbling back into the table. _Oh boy, that’s not healthy_ , he thinks as he surveys the food court. _Maybe Jeremy went to order more mountain dew_ , he pondered and the zaps became persistent. His nails find his wrist and he scratches, head darting side to side anxiously until they land on a bottle of fluoro green sugar a few tables over. He dives for it against his own better judgement, unscrewing the cap and just chugs it in one breath at a speed that would make any alcoholic teenager proud. There is crying below him, a small boy pointing helplessly at the empty bottle in Michaels hand. 

Cursing under his breath he pulls open the box under his arm and drops a sparkling can of crystal pepsi with the kids happy meal, “S-Sorry, have to find Jeremy,” well at least he pushed out a god damned sorry this time before he darted away from angry parents that were sure to come rushing to their sons aid. _What the actual hell was that!?_ He wanted to scream. 

_'Jesus Christ.'_

Jeremy’s voice hissed disbelievingly in his ear again. Michaels head snapped towards the food courts exit, his legs moving on their own as he entered another clothing strip along the mall. 

_'I don’t even like Eminem.'_

Michael whirled around on the sole of his shoe to his right and continued to follow Jeremy’s voice along with the increasing static filtering through the air. 

[ _I’m made of math._ ] 

The static cleared into words as he stormed closer, catching ends of one sided sentences and random vowels thrown in whenever emphasised. The shit he was hearing, he hoped it wasn’t directed at Jeremy. His fingers found their way into his hair, pulling at the strands before forcing himself to flip his hood back on and shove his twitching fingers into his jacket. He had to find Jeremy. He had to find Jeremy. He had to find Jeremy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey anyone who knows anything about coding. I know, this isn't what this code is used for, i was just too tired to write my own code so....sorry.


	3. Do you wanna-ERroR?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy activates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the last chapter that’s going to be nearly straight out dialogue plagiarism of the musical (its just the dialogue I’ve copied tho…many changes u will see as u read), sorry kids, oh but I still enjoy this song so I hope u do too ;)  
> It’s a longer chapter also so…enjoy that too?

* _Warning! Warning! Warning! Error!_ * 

Jeremy held his splitting head as his vision swam with tears. _Was this what it was like to die? Was he dying?_ His whole world flashed blue, the light vanishing the shooting pain ripping itself through every cell in his body in an instant as if it was never there. 

“[Jeremy Heere. Welcome to your Super Unit Intel Processor],” a man, built up from billions of glowing blue ones and zeros combined mid-air, the image smoothing out into a familiar face straightening up his jacket and tie, “[Your squip]” it smirked. Jeremy eyeballed the man peering down at him with interest, the squips body randomly giving way to rectangles of multicolour as if he where an old television on a rainy day. 

* _J*!$ &m_y! @* **$(!find@*(+=Jer** emy!*

Jeremy shook the high-pitched static from his head as he sat up with no offer of help from the squip who only smirked down at him. _Is that Keanu Reeves?!_ His first thoughts screamed once the echo of electric pain cleared. 

“You look like, Keanu Reeves,” he informed the squip slowly, wincing at how loud his voice sounded in his ears. It looked down at itself with a ‘well would you look at that’ vibe that was dripping with sarcasm. 

“[My default mode,]” it informed him, “[you can also set me for,]” it took a large breath, _can computers take breaths?_ And its form spasmed multicolour rectangles before very shakily leaving half of its face with white facial hair, “[Sean Connery,]” a flat monotone robotic voice replaced the smooth Keanu Reeves impression. 

**[Audio not found]**

The message crossed multiple bright squares before another intake of breath activated the shift again, leaving behind bright static where the squip once stood, “[Jack Nicholson,]” a cheshire cat smile pierced through the fuzzing colours, a crazed tone in the voice that had Jeremy scrambling back until his back hit the shop window. 

**[Asset not found]**

Another message blurred through the fuzz before another breath came, “[Sexy anime female,]” Giggled the squip in a high tone of its Keanu Reeves voice. The plump round feminine shape winking at him behind bright blue pony tails was fuzzy with the multi-coloured squares again, almost distorting the womens shape to unrecognisable. 

“Nah, Keanus’ good,” Jeremy informed him as bold red letters spelling out error crossed the squip before it turned back onto its first form. 

“[Hm, that is strange,]” the squip ponders to itself, turning away from Jeremy with a far off look in its eyes, “[I seem to be missing some programing. Informing creators now,]” blue flashed around its form before it turned back to him with a brighter smile, “[Not to worry, Jeremy. I am still a fully functioning squip and you are a desired individual by the looks of the data you have supplied me with,]” numbers wondered across his vision again as if the squip were checking his ‘data’ again before nodding approvingly at itself. 

“Oh um…thanks?” Jeremy slowly stood up, eyes glued on the man/machine still fuzzing occasionally with static, “So, like, can everybody see you?” he pondered out loud, nervously checking the area around them, watching the small crowd that had formed around him separate once they realised he was finished seizing. He hoped he didn’t go viral. 

“[I exist only in your mind, all they see is you having an animated conversation with yourself so, don’t do that.]” Jeremys back straightened, alarm racing through him as he clasped his mouth. _Oh god I’m making a fool out of myself in front of Christine,_ he panicked before realising that Christine had left already. Unsurprisingly this didn’t stop his racing heart. “[Just think of me, like you’re telepathic,]” the squip continued as if not noticing the panic Jeremy had just mentally dug himself in. 

“Like in x-men?!” Jeremy squeaked out loud before covering his mouth again as a blush deepened over his cheeks. He really just screamed that out to empty space didn’t he? 

“[I can see this is going to be difficult,]” the squip sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “[You want,]” it approached him slowly, brow furrowed and lip caught in its teeth as it worked through lines of data, “[to be. More. Chill.]” It stated, slight smirk on its lips as it rubbed its chin thoughtfully.

‘ _You mean cool,_ ’ Jeremy projected the thought experimentally, prompting the immediate shut down response from the squip. 

“[I do not.]” It scolded, flashing around Jeremy as it examined him, “[you see human social activity is governed by rules, I have the processing capacity to understand these rules, and pass them on to you,]” the squip informed him. Jeremy tried not to follow it with his eyes as it circled him like a bird of prey circles a corpse, however it was hard not to when there was such hunger in its expression. He wondered if the squip was going to help him be more cool-ah chill or just eat him. Briefly, there was a shrill of electricity in his hands and he tried his best to cover his yelp as they flew out of his pockets. Shaking, he curled in close to them. The same electrically sparked up his spine making him stark straight as cold hands pressed his shoulders back. “[Better,]” it mused, pushing Jeremy along the mall path again and manually swaying his hips correctly with its hands too, “[you look like a masturbator, fix your posture then the rest,]” It glared up at him as he passed it, his best efforts at mimicking how he was shown to walk faltering. 

‘ _But I am a masturbator,_ ’ he threw embarrassingly at it on compulsion. 

“[We’ll fix that,]” it deadpanned before disappearing in a flash of colour before reappearing in front of a shop further away. Nervously, Jeremy trotted towards him a few steps before being halted by a hand, an unimpressed expression on the squips face. “[All your nerdiness is ugly,]”

‘ _Nerd? I thought I was more of a-_ ’ the hand covered his mouth, surprisingly stopping his protest even if he was not using his lips. Sheepishly he looked away from it before it flashed back to its spot further away. This time instead of trailing after it like a hunched lost puppy he straightened his back and tried to mimic his steps to the way he was shown before. A shoulder collided with his as he passed a group of kids his age, knocking his already unsure balance until he stumbles into a group of girls who scream while the other group laughs. He scrambles away from them, bright red as he apologises until he reaches the squip again. It doesn’t look impressed. 

“[All your stammering's a chore,]” It sighed as it strolled away from him.

‘ _W-W-What?_ ’ he stutters, quickly following him before a zap runs back up his back forcing him to straighten again. His arms curl around his chest as he continues to follow in the way he was instructed to, his fingers twisting in his cardigan anxiously. 

“[Your tics and fidgets are persistent,]” it hisses, physically slapping his fingers away from his cardigan before grabbing his chin and turning his head to face the shop window. He stares back at his reflection dumbly, noticing the squip does not appear beside him in his reflection, “[And your charm is non-existent,]” it notes before letting his face go and continuing along his path, “[Fix your vibe, then fix some more,]” it threw over its shoulder as Jeremy continued to stare at his face in the shop window. 

* **O@)($^b0y-y** -y-y, @&!^noT he _alth-th-_ th-!* 

Jeremy winched, hand coming up to press against a throb on the right side of his head. The static of the music playing through the store was only softly pushing through the fuzz, Jeremy wondered if they were going to fix that anytime soon. He hoped, all that white noise was giving him a headache. 

Strong hands came to rest of his shoulders, “[Everything about you is just terrible,]” the squip whispered venomously in his ear. Jeremy flinched, eyes darting over his reflection. Pale face, lanky arms, skinny torso, old cardigan, ugly stripes, bloodshot eyes- “[Everything about you makes me wanna die,]” Jeremys head darted back to look at the squip disbelievingly.

‘ _Jesus Christ,_ ’ he gaped at it incredulously as it flashed to his side. 

“[So don’t freak out, and don’t resist,]” it plucked lint from his clothing absentmindedly, straightening out his shirt with the echo of the electric monotone behind its voice, “[and have no doubt, if I assist,]” it spun back around, come hither finger directed at him as it slowly moved backwards, “[you will be more chill,]” for a split second he glanced back in the window again, his back was straight, his chest standing out and his hands at his sides. He followed the squip. 

It waltzed inside a store he had never stepped foot in before. The lights where glaring and the music was obnoxious, some collaboration of an early two thousands rock band and boy group that made his ears bleed. “[First things first,]” the squip glided over to a stack of clothing, “[buy a new shirt,]” its hand gestured to the table of the bright and mildly offensive folded stacks. 

‘ _What? What’s wrong with my shirt?_ ’ he gestured at his favourite stripped thrift store win as the squip shushed him. 

“[It’s better if you just comply,]” it lectured, its form wavering slightly before straightening out in his peripheral vision, “[it will make you look less pathetic,]” it continued as if it were just talking about the weather and not causing a sinking stabbing feeling in Jeremys stomach. _I’m pathetic_ , he thought as he pawed through the stacks he was assigned to. It wondered back over to him in a series of flashes before looking over his shoulder, “[pick that one,]” it insisted, pointing at the Eminem shirt he had been about to push aside like the rest. 

“I-It has a picture of Eminem on it,” he eyed it wearily as he spoke out loud. ‘ _I don’t even like Eminem._ ’ He flipped it around to check the size but of course it would fit him, the squip picked it. 

“[If you’re so astute what do you need more for?]” Rolling its eyes and a spark of defiance leapt within him. 

‘ _Do people even still listen to Eminem?_ ’ he countered, however still folding the stupid shirt over his arm. 

“[Irrelevant,]” it flicked him on the forehead and Jeremy really tried not to wince at essentially nothing as he caught an employee eyeing him from the counter. The squip wasn’t facing him anymore, rows of blue data and lines of code just visible to Jeremy over its shoulder flashed as it spoke, “[My quantum structure enables me to envision possible futures,]” it bragged, he could hear the superior smirk in its voice, “[And I envision a future-]” the sound Jeremys video game character makes when it runs into a wall cut the squips sentence off. He raised an eyebrow at it as its body wavered again a few times before glitching to face him, “[I have run into another error, no need to worry, I am running simple diagnostics on the problem now,]” it responded in its monotone voice again before zapping Jeremys arm suddenly, causing the shirt to drop back in the messy pile he had made.

‘ _W-What about-_ ’ he started to think, reaching out for the shirt again. The squips signature punishment zapped up his arm again. 

“[Too many variables, don’t touch that shirt ever again,]” Jeremy rubbed at his arm, glaring up at it. 

‘ _God, you just had to tell me, less zapping please,_ ’ he mentally grumbled as the squip absently gestured to the shirt pile again. Sighing he continued to shuffle through them. His mind wondered at the absentminded task before he paused at a badly printed baseball jersey with the number 17 on it. ‘ _How are you with math homework?_ ’ he asked, shoving the jersey aside to continue looking as he started to wonder if he should go home soon because of that giant stack of papers still sitting on his desk untouched. 

“[I'm a super-computer, Jeremy. I'm made of math.]” It scoffed, finally appearing to jump from its code and actually look at him again. The weird heavy cold sensation of being touched by the squip flared on his wrist and it pulled him from the store, leaving a messy pile of shirts and a glaring shop assistant. “[Everything about you is just terrible,]” the squip reminded him as he looked back at the girl storming to clean up his mess.

“Everything about you sucks,” she hissed as they made eye contact, her voice wavering to digital through the sentence. His heart caught in his throat as the squip flung him into the rushing crowd of people. 

“[All the people in the mall think you’re such a slob,]” it continued as it let go and watched him fall into more people. He hastily apologised, averting his eyes and keeping his head low as they sneered at him. 

“You’re a slob!” buzzed above him, knocking his spine down back into a slouch, “terrible!” barked another as he backed into a passing couple, “such a slob!” he wrapped his arms around himself, fingers finding the loose thread on his cardigan before a bolt of lightning shot through him. 

“[And boy, can I see why!]” the squip spun around his straightened form before pushing him into another store roughly. He quickly rubbed at the stinging in his eyes before looking down at another pile of shirts. “[Now you try picking one,]” he bit the inside of his cheek hard as he thrusted his hand into the mound and pulled the first thing his hand caught. A fluoro pink tank top. “[That’s a girls’ shirt,]” it deadpanned, Jeremys ears reddened. 

“Jerry?” a slightly amused and familiar voice called in his general direction. He visibly flinched, much to the squips dismay, before he turned to face Chloe- Chloe the hottest girl in school Chloe. Chloe one of the most popular girls in school. Chloe, that girl who had never said a word to Jeremy in his life unless a homophobic slur. 

“J-Jeremy,” he corrected automatically, glancing fearfully at the squip still studying the girls openly next to him. 

“You shop here?” she smirked at him, resting her hand on her hip before openly studying him not so differently than the squip was doing to them now. 

“Ah-oh yea-” he began to stutter as he averted his eyes, hand coming up to sheepishly scratch the back of his head before the squip zapped him. 

“[Never.]” The squip pushed firmly. 

“Neverrrr….” He repeated lamely as he glued his arms to his side. He suddenly found the floor very interesting to look at before an electronic hand cupped his chin again and forced his gaze on the girls. _Oh, girls, Brooke is here too._

“[Greet the beta,]” the squip purred in his ear and at his confusion turned his face to Brooke. 

“H-Hey Brooke,” he lifted his hand in a little awkward wave that was instantly slapped down by the squip. 

“[You look sexy,]” the low tone set his hair on end. 

‘ _I can’t say that to a hot girl!_ ’ he mentally screamed, he could feel his face becoming redder than it already was and his anxiety spiking to internally combust levels before an artificial calm washed over him. The squip let go of his face, tapping his shoulder once as an invitation. 

“Looking pretty sexy, Brooke,” His voice wasn’t his own, the words felt numb on his tongue and the cotton balls in his ears nearly blocked her shy response. 

“Thanks,” she smiled, flicking back her hair behind her ear as she blinked all doe like up at him. As fast as it came the calm stopped and replaced itself back with panic and horror of what he had just said. 

‘ _What was that?!_ ’ he screamed, the squip pretended to clean his ear out beside him at the high screech of his voice breaking even if he was communicating mentally. _Oh god I’m even lame in my own mind._

“[Repeat: Yes.]” It instructed with an eye roll. 

“Yes,” he mimicked, trying hard to keep his eyes level with the girls and not shoot unsure glances at the squip. 

*- _find_ -* 

Jeremy whipped his head to the side at the static beginning to smooth out into words around him, ‘ _What was that?_ ’ he mentally cried and the squip put a hand to his face to stop him from looking around again. 

“[Pay attention and repeat after me,]” it scolded and Jeremy tried to concentrate on the yellow jacket Brooke had hanging by her elbows or the black headband in Chloes hair. 

“I saw it in the window and I couldn't dismiss…” he began to repeat mindlessly. Something was missing. He was forgetting about something important. 

*- _eremy_ -* 

He gasped, but not from the squips sudden zap that had him repeating, “I was dating a girl-” but from the second of sound echoing in his head. “And she had a shirt just like this,” his voice was barely a whisper as he looked down at the shirt. Brooke had her hands pressed to her heart as Chloe eyed him sceptically. 

* _Need to f-_ * 

“[It’s still painful]” growled the squip in his ear as if it wasn’t the first time he was feeding him that line. He visibly shook himself, but Chloe was already talking. It was hard to hear her words over the speakers above them. _That static, had the shop not fixed it yet?_

“And who was this mystery girl?” Chloe turned her nose up at him, tossing a gleeful glimpse at Brooke for supposably driving him into a corner as he struggled with words. 

“M-”

*- _to find Jeremy_ -*

His hand came back up to his head, the migraine that had hit him before screwing in hard on his temple. He dropped the shirt back in the pile, closing his eyes and mentally screaming, ‘ _what is that noise?!_ ’ the squip huffs at his side, mumbling profanities in Jeremys direction. 

“[That’s just your own thoughts, please stop getting distracted and repeat after me,]” The squip was becoming impatient, and so where the girls, “[You want to be more chill? Get in with the popular girls Jeremy!]” It scolded, but its voice was far away compared to the now blazing high pitched squeal that was the shops overhead speakers. 

* _Have to-_ * 

“S-She was cheating on me,” he stammered at the squips insistence as he held onto the shirt table for support. Brooke clenched her fists empathetically as Chloe rolled her eyes. 

“Who was this girl?” she repeated herself, arms crossing in disbelief but Brooke had no doubt, instantly feeling a connection with Jeremy she had not felt beforehand. She was cheated on too. She knew how he was feeling. 

“M-” he tried again before a whirlwind of red jacket and headphone cords crashed into him, “MICHAEL!” he yelped, his brain screaming eureka as he nearly tumbled to the floor at the sudden added weight. “Oh my god, Michael!” he gasped again. _The squip, he had split the squip with Michael, holy hell could Michael see the squip? Did Michael have his own squip?!_

“Banal na tae, Jeremy!” Michael curses in Filipino, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you, idiot!” he clings to Jeremy and immediately the shop speakers clear to real songs and the girls sound less far away. 

“Gaaaay,” Chloe sings, grabbing onto Brookes arm and pulling her away from the boys, “come on Brooke, let’s go get some Pinkberry before we’re infected,” Brooke tries to catch Jeremy’s eye, however he’s still wide mouth staring at Michael, nonetheless she gives him a little wave goodbye anyway before she gives in to be pulled around. 

“Michael! Michael! It worked!” Jeremy bounced up and down on the balls of his feet as he pointed to the frozen squip beside him, “Can you see him? Can you see him?” he gushed and Michael scanned over the squip, looking through it instead of at it. 

“No,” he sounded slightly disappointed before switching to pissed, “But I could hear him,” he growls as he puts himself between the vacant space Jeremy had pointed out to him. “Jer, whatever that guys told you-” he starts, cutting off as a blaring alarm fills their heads. 

“[Jeremy Heere, scanning, *@&$@ **NO MATCH** ,]” the squips form blacks out before switching to the colourful fuzzing mess of rectangles. “[Subject, two found neural memories, ERROR…Subject, two found muscle memories, ERROR…]” Michael backs away from the shop, keeping Jeremy at his back as he holds his throbbing brain with one hand and almost forgotten crystal pepsi box under his other arm.

‘ _What the hell is happening?_ ’ Jeremy closes his eyes against the too bright blues beginning to flash over Michael’s shoulder however finding the lights still rushing under his eyelids. 

* _I don’t know, Jer_ * Michael is blasted with another sudden craving for mountain dew as the screeching picks up. His skin below his eyes sting and he can see a glowing blue like how sometimes he can see his nose. 

“[ **System shut down commencing.** ]” Scrolls passed their faces before they’re thrown back by an explosion of power through their bodies before the world is quiet again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do u guys think? 
> 
> ps. I heard that Michael was Filipino somewhere....I have no idea, if hes not tell me what he is XDDD


	4. Wakey Wakey Squips and Bakey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some questions answered and some milk spilt!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! My chapters are getting longer ;0; I had to split this one up ;) 
> 
> BTW! I have a [Tumblr](https://thebookmen2.tumblr.com/), come and say hi and feast ur eyes on fandom screaming shit!
> 
> Also I'm officially enrolled into a creative writing minor so hopefully we'll see some improvements of my writing soon ;)

“Are we dead?” Jeremy whimpers, eyes squeezed shut until a heavy weight lifts from his chest. 

“Feels like it,” Michael moans, slowly rolling off Jeremy before feeling every joint in his body crack as he attempts to stand from the filthy mall floor, “I can move so I’m either a zombie or we aren’t actually dead,” he informs his friend who’s nose is scrunched up as he refuses to open his eyes. Michael really doesn’t want him to. “Alright folks, shows over, next performance every Tuesday evenings,” he groans as he makes it to his feet, tossing shoo shoo gestures blindly around himself as he fights to keep his balance. The large number of passers-by slowly lower their phones, fingers flying across their screens as they post or message whatever video they got off of the few seconds of the boys falling. 

Michael waits until the majority make their leave before kneeling down to Jeremy, “Jer, any other time I would totally lay with you and pretend we’re just chilling but right now we gotta go before a mall cop comes,” He pushes, gently touching Jeremys shoulder causing the other boy to flinch. Grasping Jeremys’ hand, he pulls his friend up as he stands slowly. His headphones are barely grasping to him via their cord connected to his phone in his pocket and his box of pepsi crystal had let loose two cans that had stopped rolling away. 

Jeremy clings to his hand as he begins to sort himself out by chasing after the runaway pepsi cans, his voice is small, “I forgot about you,” Michael would have missed it if Jeremy weren’t so close to him, he pauses with his free hand grasping a can. “I-I-how could I do that? That’s not possible,” Jeremys lip quivers, his clammy hand squeezing Michaels hard. 

“Jeremy,” he squeezes back just as hard, “It was the squip, it had to be. I don’t know how…but it’s a super computer that’s inside our brains so…” He pauses, suddenly realising what he was saying, “Jeremy we have a super computer in our brains.” He gasps, and finally Jeremy looks up at him. 

“And it wants to help me be more chill,” Jeremy tells him in the exact ‘is this really our lives right now?’ tone. There is a moment of silence before both boys crack a grin, snickering with each other, mildly hysterical. 

“And he’s such an ass as well!” Michael wheezes as Jeremy bends over, little tears in his eyes. 

“Oh god he really is,” Jeremy covers his smile, “glitchy too, seriously Michael if you could see the amount of static it creates and errors that come up it makes your old bulky computer in the basement look like a NASA laptop,” there is a pensive pause again between them, the absurdity of their situation fading as the seriousness sets in. Michael readjusts his headphones back around his neck. Jeremy bends down and retrieves the second runaway can, “How do we fix it?” he asks the can. 

“Well I don’t know many quantum nanotechnology computer shops,” Michael swings their connected hands absently, “so our best bet is,” he looks towards payless before Jeremy nods once and leads the way.

* * *

“He quit,” the flustered girl in the payless uniform behind the counter huffed, scanning items as she looked around the giant line that was forming as well as the numerous people spotted around the shop looking for an employee to find their shoe size for them. 

“What do you mean he quit?!” Jeremy squeaked, voice breaking at the end as Michael again tried to explain what the guy looked like. Spikey side burns, bulky guy, looks pretty shady. 

“He just,” the girl gestured to the door angrily with some impatient womens money in her hand, “said he’d sold all his product and left!” she stuffed the money in her register angrily before slamming it shut and shoving a box of shoes at the angry customer. “fuckin junky,” she curses under her breath as the next person in line dumps their shoes on her bench. 

Michael turns back to Jeremy, “He sold us the last dud!” he hisses, pulling his friend aside as the girl gives them a suspicious glance before being pulled away by another customer. 

“No no no, but I saw heaps more pills in the ladies running shoes box, there was enough in there for the whole mall!” Jeremy responds, his fingers moving to begin to pull at the end of his blue cardigan however stopping midway before he drops his arms to his sides, a pained look on his face. 

“Well he could be anywhere now, it’s not like we can access the malls security cameras and track him down,” Michael runs his fingers through his hair as they both silently agree to leave the payless store before the employee gets a moment to report them as suspicious to the manager. They begin to head towards the food court. 

“What now?” Jeremy walks circles around Michael as he thinks, hands twitching with the need to do something with them but keeping them pressed to his sides. Michael follows him with his eyes nervously before grabbing his friend after his third lap and forcing him into a vacant seat. Imminently Jeremys’ leg began to bounce. 

“Just chill for a moment Jer, we’ll think of something,” Michael sighs, shifting from foot to foot before walking swiftly away from the table. Jeremy makes a confused panicked noise as he is abandoned, standing to follow his friend but just as fast as he leaves Michael returns with two bottles in his hands. He drops his box of crystal pepsi and one bottle of dew on the table before he uncaps his own.

“Ah, Michael, I asked for a solution, not mountain dew,” Jeremy says impassively, unscrewing his own bottle nevertheless. 

“I know Jer but I saw it in that restaurants fridge…-I think the squip has more than just a few bugs to work out,” he whines around his already half-drunk bottle, hoping this new addiction isn’t going to make his heart stop from all the caffeine he’s probably about to binge. Jeremy nods along, a thoughtful look crossing his face. 

“Rich,” he whispers into his mountain dew, Michael raises an eyebrow at him. Jeremy stands suddenly, “Rich! He’s the one who told me about the squip remember?” before he can run off, Michael snatches his wrist. 

“Do you even have his number? Know where he is right now?” Michael reasons, killing Jeremy’s sudden enthusiasm and hope. He takes another mouthful of mountain dew. 

“No…but schools tomorrow, he always trips me in the hall before class begins,” he points out. 

Michael smiles with him, “Never thought I’d look forward to that part of our day before,” he jokes. They don’t stay in the mall for any longer than that, aware that they would probably both begin to buy out all the mountain dew in the food court if they stayed any longer (only realising this after their third bottle (Michaels forth)). Michael drives Jeremy back home with a promise to see him at school the next day and with strict instructions to text each other if anything squip like happens in the night.

* * *

**HRESULT OpenMyQueue(**  
CHAR szQueueNumber[]  
)  
{ 

**HRESULT hr = MQ_OK; // Return code**

**// Specify PROPID_QM_MACHINE_ID.**  
CLSID guidMachineId; // Computer GUID buffer  
aQMPropId[cPropId] = PROPID_QM_MACHINE_ID; // Property ID  
aQMPropVar[cPropId].vt = VT_CLSID; // Type indicator  
aQMPropVar[cPropId].puuid =  &guidMachineId // Computer GUID buffer  
cPropId++; 

**if (FAILED(Squip2.5))**  
{  
fprintf(stderr, "Scan subject (error: 0x%x).\n",hr);  
return hr;  
} 

**[Scanning…]**

**10111100001101110010110111100010110001010100011101111001000100101001**

**If match = TRUE {98% Match.}**

**Reactive?**  
> YES  
> NO 

****

****

**[Reactivating please wait…]**

Jeremy woke up with a start as the squip activation music played in his head. He wiped absently at the drool in the corner of his mouth as he peered through squinted eyes at the well-dressed man standing in the middle of his bedroom. At first they just stared at each other before the silence was broken by Jeremys’ phone buzzing. Cautiously he glanced at the screen before it locked itself again. 

\------  
(03:44) **Player 1-**  
I heard a noise??!!?  
\------

“[Where’s the other one of you?]” the squip asked as Jeremy quickly sent Michael a reply message that Keanu Reeves is currently screwing his nose up at his star wars bedsheets at 3am. 

“Y-You mean Michael?” he mentally cursed himself for stammering, slowly straightening the sleep out of his button up zombie bed shirt. The squips shoulders rose as he avoided eye contact, not that Jeremy would be aware as he diverted his attention to the blue squares replacing Keanus bottom half. 

\-----------  
(3:45) **Player 1-**  
Are u ok?!  
Its not hurting u right!?  
Jeremy answer me!!!  
\---------

“He’s at home,” he answered when he didn’t receive a reply. Jeremy blindly texted reassurances, blush meeting his ears at how rude he must look. The squips lips thinned, squinting at glowing blue code lazily gliding around his head. Various boops and beeps sounded as it blinked its eyes before it drew a breath, raising its chest up high and finally turning his full attention back to Jeremy. 

“[Excellent,]” the smile was clearly forced, too wide and too much teeth, “[I must apologise for my sudden departure, Squips do not usually encounter a human with two neural and muscle memories however upon further scans my programing has located the link between the two and I am prepared again to assist with your goals to ‘be more chill’,]” Jeremy rubbed the sleep from his eyes, head titled to the side slightly. 

“Uhh…ok?” he frowned, scratching at his neck as the squip wondered over towards him and positioned itself on the very edge of his bed. Jeremy blinked at it, shifting away when the bed did not dip with its weight. It took that as an invitation to move closer. 

“[You wish to be with the female named Christine, correct?]” it asked. Jeremy’s chest fluttered, tingling cheeks informing him of a large blush as he looked away from it. “[You like her,]” Its grin didn’t reach its eyes, “[tell me about her,]” it instructed. And he did. For most of the night Jeremy slowly gained confidence, his mental stutter smoothing out as he explained who she was and how beautiful and amazing she is. The squip hardly spoke, its form flashing in and out of existence a few times as it focused not on Jeremys face but his arm. That was until it halted him midsentence three hours later, instructing him that all humans must receive at least eight hours sleep to function at their best. Without complaint he tucked himself back under the covers and was out even faster than he usually would be after talking about Christine. 

The squip leaned over to peer at Jeremys’ phone lighting up, ignored after the first few reassuring texts and put on silent without his host realising. Michaels messages slowly died down as the squip found access to the double muscle memories and synced them.

* * *

**Start > Settings > All Programs > Jeremy > Neural memory; **  
> REM  
Disengage?  
> YES   
> NO  


Jeremy groans as the last parts of his dream slip through the cracks of wakefulness. Flashes of Christines’ smiling face, a pleasant buzzing sensation and zombies somewhere in between are the last of his night fantasy’s before he enters the real world. And god the real world hurts. 

He pushes himself up, joints cracking, the bed below him is as hard as the floor. Shaking his head he squints around, finding Luke Skywakers wrinkled up face below him and his nightstand where his bedposts should be. He rolls onto his back, taking his blanket with him as he wraps himself up like a burrito on his bedroom floor as his head throbs. He hadn’t fallen out of bed in years. 

He lays there for a few minutes before his bony hips and shoulders pressing into his hard as rock floor becomes too much and he sits up. His neck cracks as he slumps forward, a small whine escapes him as the aches alert there presents all over his body. He’s pulled himself halfway up the bed when the echoing knock sounds around the house. He presses his face into his mattress, silently begging for his dad to be awake to answer the door. He feels static pool behind his eyes and he frowns into his blanket. Another handful of rapid knocks, turning rhythmic at the end as if beating out a song on his front door would make him come faster. His bones feel heavy as he lifts himself up and stumbles out his bedroom and down the stairs to the front door. His blanket is pulled over his head, a failed attempt to stop the unstopping buzzing whistling in his ears. 

Silently he ponders if there could be a murder behind the door and he’s just going to let them in. If there was he would welcome them with open arms and run himself with the knife, at least then his headache would be gone. 

“Jeremy buddy, sorry to disappoint but I’m not a murder,” A familiar voice half laughs behind the door and he finally opens it up to Michaels bright morning bird face. He glares at him before a bottle of mountain dew is thrusted into his face. He takes it, silently apologising for glaring at his best friend because he was having a bad morning. “Apology accepted man,” Michael smirks, clinking their bottles together and Jeremy washes his bad breath with sweet melon water. Jeremy wonders how many bottles Michael had already drunk today. “Five,” Michael responds, slipping around Jeremy and into the house. 

“What?” Jeremy mumbles, brain still two steps behind as he closes the chilly morning out. Michael, who practically made Jeremys house his second home (visa verse), plops himself down on his favourite kitchen spinning chair and sips as he spins. 

“I’ve had five bottles today, brought a six pack on the way here,” He informs Jeremys squinting face. 

_‘Who drinks five bottles of mountain dew?’_

Michael drops his bottle. The loud thud and splosh of liquid disrupt the buzz in his ears. Michaels hands are covering his mouth, his eyes wide. Before Jeremy asks what’s wrong the buzz clears out into words. 

_*I’m reading Jeremys mind*_

Suddenly Jeremy is much more awake, realising that he had hardly spoken a word to his friend who was holding up a conversation with his thoughts alone. 

_‘I think I’m reading your mind too,’_

They both squeak simultaneously as Mr Heere wonders into the kitchen at that very moment. 

“Good morning Jeremy! And...uh…Michael?” he asks, checking his watch to see that yes it was 6am, “you sleep over last night?” Mr Heere asks as he wonders to his coffee machine. Unsurprisingly, no pants. 

“No!”  
“Yes!” 

They stare at each other for a moment, having responded the exact same time. 

_*Dude, it’s weird that I’m over here so early,*_ Michael silently points out. Jermeys shoulders are in line with his ears. 

_‘I know I just panicked!’_ Jeremy mentally screeched, Michael covered one of his ears and winched. Mr Heere appeared to not of heard them as he began to complete his morning ritual around the two boys. Just as they thought the situation couldn’t get any worse, a familiar theme song sounded through the air. Startled, Jeremy flinches, hand shooting out and grabbing Michaels.

“[Good morning Jeremy,]” the squip greets, appearing just in front of his father who is shuffling around the cupboards for a mug. It’s grin widens as it sees Michael, “[And good morning Jeremy 2,]” Michael squeezes his hand. 

_*You have some explaining to do,*_ Michael sneers as the Squip flashes around Michael, Jeremy follows it with his eyes as Michael glares at the same spot Jeremy and first looked at. Its fingers brush against Michaels face, poking at his jacket and smoothing around to his back. It nods to itself. 

“[I knew this would happen and therefore I will only answer three questions,]” it smirked as Michael bristled, “[or else we would be here all day and don’t you two need to go to school? Jeremy repeat: Cereal.]” It demanded instructions to Jeremy quickly, phantom electricity shot through his system, dropping the blanket around himself and making him hold Michaels hand tighter. 

“Cereal,” Jeremy gasped, suddenly aware of his father in the room again. His dad grinning, shooting a salute before pulling out two more bowls that had suddenly appeared on the counter when he stopped paying attention. 

_*Jeremy?*_ Michaels thumb rubbed slowly circles into Jeremys hand, Jeremys shoulders gradually slumped to their natural position. 

“[Interesting,]” The squip mused, and Michael shot another glare to empty space. A blush crawled its way over Jeremys ears and suddenly he was pulling his hand away from Michaels. As soon as their skin disconnected everything felt hollow and fuzzy, and by Michaels expression he felt the same way too. 

_‘Shut up,’_ Jeremy grumbled, the squips grin widened, _‘and he’s now on your left Michael,’_ he added, and Michael directed his glare to the appropriate empty air space much to the squip disappointment. 

_*First question,*_ Michael, the much more level headed of the two, began, _*How do we fix the glitching?*_ Jeremy nodded along with him, however his words sounded as if they were coming from a radio half a channel before the correct signal. 

“[Physical connection seems to help,]” he pointed out before a shrill of electricity jumped up Michaels spine and out through to his fingers causing the limb to fly out to Jeremy. He held onto his friend as their eyes met. Horror and disbelief filled Michaels expression. 

_*He’s done that to you too?*_ He gasps at Jeremys’ sympathetic expression before the other boy reluctantly nods. A churning tumbling hate deep inside himself roars its head up to crash into the squip. 

“[Jeremy 2 repeat: I’m fine, sorry Mr Heere,]” It demands, oblivious to Michaels wrath until it doesn’t hear its instructions being followed. It glances at its second host, recoiling slightly at Michaels’ expression before straightening up its tie, “[Apologies, do you prefer…Michael instead?]” it spits out the name hesitantly as if it were a word from a foreign language that requires unusual sounds to be pronounced correctly. 

“He’s fine, Dad. Thanks for breakfast,” Jeremy responds for Michael, taking the two bowls and pulling his friend into the lounge room by their connected arms, leaving a slightly confused father behind. The squip trots behind them, virtual hand rubbing its chin as it scrolls through lines of blue data. They squish together on the couch even if it has three seats. Knees knocking together as Jeremy hands Michael his bowl and begins to eat out of his own. Michael just stares down into the colourful loops drowning in milk. 

_*So, you have no idea how to fix the glitching do you?*_ Michael shoots at the squip, its graphs and code hiccup twice before it puts them away, smiling down at them with that very plastic smile of his. 

“[I have run simple diagnostics on my systems and informed my creators of the problem, such as the protocol goes,]” it answered and Michaels head shot up and his glare landed, with surprising accuracy, onto the squip. 

_*And, who are your creators?*_ He asked. The squips smiling form wavered once, twice, three times before the same loud running into a wall sound replaced the buzzing for a moment before scrawls of code washed around itself. 

** [Interrogation recognized]  **

The message flashed against Michaels glasses. Yelping, the bowl on his lap jumped out of his hands and onto the floor with a crash. The squips form sparked in heart beats of static and code wrapping itself into a ball of multicolour fuzz before a familiar message scrolled itself down their vision. 

“ **[System shut down commencing.]** ” 

“Oh no,” Jeremy whispers before their bodies are thrown back against the couch in a wave of energy as the squip exploded outwards. The first thing Jeremy feels is pain, the second is sticky wetness all down his front and his face. The high pitched wail he was becoming familiar with smoothed out slightly to his fathers words above him. 

“-horsing around…-…my couch…-…boys!” His father is looking down at them, Jeremy squints to see the roof. 

“Sorry, Mr Heere,” Michael groans next to him, again the first to recover as he rolls to his knees in front of the flipped couch, “we’ll clean it up right away,” he promises, which seems to calm the man who runs his hand down his face. 

“I’m glad your both ok,” He sighs heavily before turning around in his slippers and trotting back into the kitchen, “And this mountain dew on the floor too please, Jeremy,” he calls back. There are hands on him now, shaking his shoulder slightly and the world snaps back into focus too quickly. Jeremy rolls to his side and groans. 

“Why don’t you go take a shower?” Michael suggests softly, “I’ll clean this up, you clean you up,” there is a light laugh at the end of the sentence and Jeremy now knows that he was now wearing his fruit loops. 

“Ok,” he wheezes, screwing his nose up at the sticky milk and cardboard sugar soaking itself into his pyjamas. Michael shoos him up the stairs on his way to dig out the mop and brooms sitting unused for a millennia in the Heeres closet. Jeremy feels slightly worse when he realises half way through his shower that he had abandoned Michael to clean up for him when it wasn’t even his own house. He finished showering quite quickly after that thought had process however by the time he made his way down the stairs, head stuck around the shirt he was pulling on, the floor was already done. 

_‘You did that on purpose didn’t you?’_ Jeremy asked Michaels pleased expression. 

_*Haven’t a clue what you’re talking about*_ Michael hummed from his spiny chair perch as he nibbled on the reward cookies his father had probably given him. _*Or should I say, not a clue what you’re thinking about,*_ He slapped Jeremys hand away from the plate of cookie cockily, mouthing ‘for good kids only’ before generously allowing his best friend one whole cookie. Minus a bite. 

Halfway through battling his friend for a second one, the bus pulls into his street, honking its horn at the bus stop before driving away before Jeremy could even scramble out the door fast enough. 

_‘Walking again,’_ he groaned before ticking off the list that his boxers will be bunchy and he will smell like shit again before a jangle of keys sounds behind him. 

“You’re forgetting about me already, Jeremy?” Michael gasps fake hurt, and real hurt shoot through Jeremey like a bullet train to the heart. Michael drops the teasing expression as he holds out his hands in surrender, “I-I didn’t mean it like that Jer, stop beating yourself up about that, gees!” Jeremy just hangs his head and scoops up his boyf bag from the door way. 

“Let’s just go to school and actually get real answers this time,” He mumbles before leaving to stand outside Michaels PT cruiser in the driveway. Michael sighs, following him and hopefully silently vowing to not joke about it so soon ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW i thrive on feedback, dont be too shy to visit my comment section ;) i appropriate them all


	5. Hide and Seek squip edition Pt.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rich NOPES out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my 25 subs and 13 bookmarked children! And greetings to any new faces in the room!  
> I apologise for this taking such a long time to come out! I have been focused on my other works and sadly neglected this one, but do not worry! I love BMC and this story! So if u like this story too then do not be sad! This is not the final chapter. 
> 
> Recap (because it’s been months) (don’t be scared to re-read this either cause this chapter might make no sense otherwise):  
> Jeremy and Michael split the squip in half and shared it! The squip activated but not without its glitches. Jeremy can see the squips form but Michael can only hear it. A lot of mountain dew has been consumed. The boyf riends can talk telepathically! They plan to ambush Rich and interrogate him for answers as wolverine guy who sold them the squip has disappeared off the map!  
> [words] = Squip  
>  _'words'_ = Jeremy  
>  _*words*_ = Michael  
>  _Words_ = just whoever's point of view immediate thoughts are
> 
> Up to speed now? Yes? No? sorry…  
> With that out of the way, on with the show!

“Just act natural, cool, chill,” Jeremy says, clinging onto Michaels arm so tightly that he could feel the circulation beginning to cut off. 

“Take your own advice, Jer.” Michaels shoulder begins to throb while he manoeuvres his headphones over his ears as they enter the school building. They walked clumsily, as Jeremy tries to look over the crowds nervously while keeping Michaels poor arm hostage. He knew he should complain. Gently explain to Jeremy that because of their height difference Michael felt like a doll being hoisted off the floor by his arm. An arm that was going to most definitely rip off if Jeremy kept skidding this way and that to locate the half-pint rooster. But just one look at the darting eyes and unsteady hands of his best friend he knew Jeremy needed to be close to ward off the panic. And he would be lying if he said he didn’t like to be close to Jeremy, even with the discomfort and tangled headphone cords. 

“Yo, tall ass! Where’s my money?” they whipped around to the bully storming towards them. 

“R-Rich, uh, we, we kinda need to, well you see, it’s kinda,” Jeremy backs them into a locker, arms out and cowering before the boy more than a head shorter than him. Michael squeezes Jeremys’ arm back, standing tall and glaring down at Rich. He steps forwards and before he can get a word out Rich is puffing his chest out larger, squaring his shoulders and making a fist. 

“Don’t even think about butting into this, Headphones. This isn’t any of your business,” He spits, smashing his knuckles into the locker beside Michaels’ head. Michael winches but his glare sets in again cause this little shit isn’t going to talk to his friend like this anymore, but before he can even move Rich has a fist full of Jeremys shirt. 

“Don’t make me repeat my-“ his growling voice hiccups on contact with Jeremy, his eyes going impossibly wide, pupils pinpricks and jaw tense. 

“R-Rich?” Jeremy asks and finches back when the skin below Riches eyes flashes with green techno webs. Jeremys shoulders collide roughly with the lockers as he’s pushed back from the sudden force of Rich jumping away from him. Rich screams with the sound of a dying animal in the jaws of death. 

His fingers claw into his temples, “ERROR ERROR ERROR!” he stumbles back, thrashing with himself and the stragglers around them jolt out of his path, “CORRUPT SYSTEM DETECTED!” Jeremy steps forwards, hand out stop Rich, an apology on his lips but Michael stays back with his back pressed up against the frozen metal. As soon as he sees movement in front of him, Rich bolts. Grabbing the window handle and ripping the lock off with inhuman force as he opens it. He dives out of it, tucks and rolls, not even stopping to catch his balance as he hits the ground running and out of sight. Michael slowly joins Jeremy at the window.

“That was…” 

“Intense.” Michael agrees, staring at the corner Rich had skidded around, tuffs of grass ripped in a line perfectly Rich shaped. 

“W-What are we gonna do now?” Jeremys shoulders hitch up again, Rich was their only ticket to wolverine guy. The only way to get them fixed. And now he’s gone. Is he even going to come back? What are they going to do if Rich never comes back? Are they going to die? Is this thing going to-? 

Michael puts his hand firmly on Jeremys back, rubbing up and down, trying to ease the tension from his shoulders. 

“[I suggest you get yourself to class, you do have that math test today.]” 

The noise Jeremy and Michael make as the squips torso appears on the other side of Jeremy would have gotten them years’ worth of shit from Rich if he were still there. Jeremys head barrels into Michaels side, squishing himself as small as he could. Michael directs his glare in every direction as he holds Jeremy to his side, daring the squip to show its supposably handsome face. 

“A little warning next time!” Michael snaps as Jeremy straightens up, face beet red. “What happened to your shitty start up music?” he glares at the lockers much to the squips amusement. 

“[It must have malfunctioned.]” It suggests, pulling up more lines of code to leisurely read through. 

“What part of you isn’t a malfunction?” Michael growls back and Jeremy turns Michaels head in the correct direction. 

“[The part that wishes for you to be more chill, and to do this one must have good grades!]” he dissolves into multicolour static to reappear behind them both, pushing at Michaels back to hurry them along. Michael jolts at the sudden pressure, head darting around but seeing no one behind him, “[You better get a move on unless you wish to miss the test.]” Michael goes to turn and give the squip a piece of his mind but Jeremy stops him with a hand in his. 

_‘Let’s just go to class.’_ He pleads and Michael reluctantly drops his shoulders, shoving his free hand into his hoody and turning up his music. 

_*Fine. But we’re tracking down Rich again after class.*_ Jeremy easily agrees and they make it outside their classrooms. With deep breaths and one last squeeze, they separate to head to their respected classes. 

“[And why are you separating?]” the squip asks as Michael shoulders his way into the classroom, keeping his head down and slipping into his usual seat at the back. 

_‘Because we have different classes on now,’_ Jeremy supplies from his own classroom, dropping his back pack beside his feet, eyes darting to the empty desk next to Jake. 

“[Oh.]” the squip says as it settles down next to Jeremys desk, “[Well this is going to be fun.]” Jeremy raises an eyebrow, about to ask what he had meant by that but was stopped as soon as the grumpy old math teacher declared that they can start now. Jeremy turns over the paper on his desk, stomach sinking and swallowing hard when he’s met by a page of symbols he doesn’t understand. 

_‘uhhhh Michael?’_ Jeremy tests in a small panicked voice. 

_*Yeah, Jer?*_ Michael responds as he writes his name on top of his History essay paper, skimming through the topics he can pick to write about. 

_‘What’s a derivative?’_ Jeremys pencil splits at the first questions answer box, splashing lead against his paper. 

_*I’m not the one who took advanced math, sorry dude.*_ Michael says apologetically, scribbling in the space of every O in the question sheet. _*You know anything about the American civil war?*_ he asks hopefully and Jeremy shakes his head before realising Michael cant see him. 

_‘N-No, sorry, I fell asleep in that class…’_ he scribbles a packman in the boarder of the test paper. 

_*Yeah, me too.*_ Michael moans, reading the questions over again.

“[The derivative of a function of a real variable measures the sensitivity to change of the function value with respect to a change in its argument. Derivatives are a fundamental tool of calculus. For example, the derivative of the position of a moving object with respect to time is the object's velocity: this measures how quickly the position of the object changes when time advances.]” the squip says, pulling up a diagram of a wiggly line and a straight line through it. 

_‘Huh?’_ Jeremy squints at the diagram before it dissolves into the American flag. 

“[The American Civil War (also known by other names) was a war fought in the United States (U.S.) from 1861 to 1865. [c] The Civil War is the most studied and written about episode in U.S. history.[15] Largely as a result of the-]” Michael jolts in his seat, scribbling down dates and facts that the squip was spewing at him. 

_*You sound like a Wikipedia page.*_ Michael comments, re-reading the horrible scrawl that hardly passes as writing. He prefers typing. 

“[That’s because it is.]” The squip grins, and Jeremy gapes at him before a ruler comes down on his desk, a gruff ‘eyes up on your own paper’ pushes his head down to the alien language again. 

_‘Holy shit, can you help us with our tests?’_ Jeremys voice whispers even if no one but Michael and the squip could hear him. 

“[That is why I am here, Jeremy. To help you.]” It settles over his shoulder, reading the test paper. 

_‘Isn’t that like…cheating?’_ Jeremy fiddles with the pencil, chewing on its eraser nervously. 

“[By that logic everyone in this room is cheating.]” the squip says, and glowing blue internet pages spring up around the blank spaces of Jeremys desk. “[Everyone here is using their brains, and I am a part of your brain now, Jeremy.]” this does not sit well with Michael, it stirs dread in the pit of his belly so much so that he wants to snap back at the squip for even suggesting such a thing. “[The answer to the first question is 3+cosx+4sinx]” Jeremy quickly jots that down in the box provided. “[Oh, mustn’t forget to show our working, Jeremy.]” it says before rattling off a few lines before the answer that Jeremy fills out. Michael supposes snapping at the squip can be done after the test. 

It goes on like this for a while. The squip pulling up wiki facts for Michael to scribble down, occasionally dropping hints for spelling mistakes with a grin as he imprinted lines of equations for Jeremy to trace out. Michaels knee bounces, vibrating the desk his elbow rests on. He holds his head in that hand, squeezing as a dull throb takes hold of the left side of his temple. Jeremy squints as the question blurs, returning briefly to show it doubled before fuzzing out again. He rubs at his crossed eyes roughly, gritting his teeth as pain and white lights spark at the force of the heels of his palms. 

“[The Union finally won the war when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Exponential and Logarithmic Functions and 4 million black slaves were freed.]” the squip informs, form jumping. The sentence sounds far away in Michaels ears, like the squip was talking to him from inside a well. He pauses half way writing Logarithmic, blinking at the sentence and re-reading it over. 

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Michael hisses accusingly, quickly being hushed by the teacher at the front of the room. 

Jeremy rakes the sticky sweat off of his face, leaving his skin tingling and red. He shifts in his seat, pants sliding and uncomfortable. 

_‘Michael you there?’_ he asks, blinking up at the head in front of him, vision swimming. He waits a beat, rubbing his ear against his shoulder at the low murmur in the room. Or…that wasn’t right. They where in the middle of a test, no one should be talking. He does a quick glance around the classroom and doesn’t see anything to note except-

_‘RICH! Michael, Rich is here!’_ he jumps as the ruler again hits down at his desk, he faces forwards again, squeezing his pencil so tightly that it might break. _‘Michael, Rich slipped back into class when I wasn’t looking.’_ Jeremy whispers and waits. 

Nothing. 

He glances at the squip behind him and it raises a perfectly trimmed eyebrow up at him before pointing at his test paper. He looks back down at it and instead of the neat lines of equations, text is scrolling across it. He catches glimpses of ‘government’ and ‘union’ before tensing even further. 

_‘Michael I think somethings wrong with the squip.’_ He says it as a plea for help. His head throbs suddenly and he presses his sweaty hand to it. _‘Michael come on please’_ he whimpers. 

_*…have to…don’t…good…Jere…*_

Jeremy presses his head into the test paper, squeezing his watery eyes shut. He gasps, trying to listen but with every strain its like a cord wrapped around his neck, choking and burning him. 

“[Focus Jeremy.]” The squip scolds and a zap of electricity licks up his spine. He yelps, snapping straight before covering his mouth at the low snickers that poke at him on all sides. He doesn’t hear Riches signature snort in the mix. 

_*meet…Jeremy…out…Jeremy…Jere…*_

Tears well in his eyes as the teacher hushes the class but not from the embarrassment. The pain that wraps around his head and squeezes with sharp thorns is worse than it was back at the mall. He shoves a sob back into his mouth, breathing slow controlled breaths just as Michael had taught him. 

_*Bath…Jere…room…meet…NOW!!!*_

Jeremys hand shot up, “Can I go to the bathroom please?” he cries but is up and out of his seat before the teacher even raises his tired old head. Jeremy collides with Michael in the hall, grabbing fistfuls of his red jumper as his legs threaten to fall out below him. The world shoots into focus as if someone had pulled his head out of the barrel of water he was submerged into. He gasps for air, and so does Michael as they just hold each other, connecting and scaring off the pain. 

“That was…”

“Fucking shit.” Michael finishes for him, wiping the cold sweat off of his own brow. Jeremy makes a confused noise as Michael takes hold of his arm, pulling him through the halls. “Better to go to the place we said we were going.” He grumbles, and they end up in the same bathroom Jeremy had tried to escape from when cornered by Rich about the squip. 

“[Ah yes better, now that you are whole again we can finish the test.]” The squip claps its hands together, delighted as it glitches in and out of view. 

“The hell? We’re not going back there! I started to write and speak Japanese! I don’t know Japanese!” Michael clings to Jeremy, looking around again before Jeremy pointed to a spot to glare at. 

“[Well if you could write and speak it then you clearly know it,]” The squip glitches out of the spot just as Michael sends his full force wrath at it. 

“Don’t get smart with me, discount wall-e!” he stamps his leg like a toddler, suddenly again feeling the urge for mountain dew. 

“M-Michael its ok we just…we just need to be close.” Jeremy pet Michaels arm, trying to calm him even if he was shaking just as bad. 

“[That is a good assumption.]” the squip says, flicking around graphs and code again, looking bored. 

“Shut up you dick,” Michael shouts before squeezing Jeremys hand, “Jer, I don’t think Mr Wilson is going to let me hold your hand while you finish your math test.” 

“No I don’t mean…ugh just…just take off your jumper.” Jeremy can feel his face heat up, unable to look at Michael in the eye. 

“W-What?” Michaels brain does not compute. He needs to restart, blow on the cartridge and reconnect the wires because he must be hearing things. 

“Your jumper.” Jeremy holds out his hand, head ducked down, “I just…I feel close to you went I have it on ok…” he mumbles the last bit before squeaking, “N-No homo or anything, just, yeah…” Jeremy only wears his jumper when they’re both too high to be embarrassed about it and Michael mellow enough to indulge himself in his fantasies. He remembers with surprising clarity the time when Jeremy curled into the jumper, having bargained it off of him easily, and mumbled that it smelt like him. Michael shook himself from the memory. 

“Oh…oh yeah…good idea…” he says as he pulls it off of himself and hands it over. The world feels cold and open now without it. “I’ll um…I’ll take your nerdy cardigan I guess.” But Jeremy is two steps ahead of him, swapping out his blue cardigan for the jumper. Michael eyes the clothing before tying the sleeves around his waist. 

“Its not nerdy!” Jeremy huffs as his head pops out the other side of Michaels jumper. The sleeves are a little short but otherwise it fits him nicely. Michael tries not to stare for too long. 

“You uh…you said Rich was…” Michael averts his eyes, pleading with his face to stop feeling so hot. 

“O-Oh yeah! He’s back in class!” Jeremy gasps, latching onto the subject and pointing out the door where Rich was. 

“Good.” Michael nods, pressing his headphone cord to his lips in thought, “Can you keep him in class after the test?” 

Jeremy freezes, “I-I’ll try too…” his fingers find the pride patch on the end of Michaels jumper, fiddling with the end. 

“Don’t worry, it won’t be for long, I’ll be over there as backup as quick as I can.” Michael pats his shoulder, clenching his fist in front of them. 

“O-Ok!” Jeremy seems more confident now, so Michael nods and they both leave to go back to class. “W-Wait,” Jeremy grabs Michaels sleeve again, “Shouldn’t we like…wash our hands before we go…we’re in a bathroom…” 

The squip face palms behind their shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for any spelling mistakes and errors this is very unbetaed! if u see any just inform me and ill fix it up as fast as I can! 
> 
> BTW i thrive on feedback, dont be too shy to visit my comment section ;) i appropriate them all
> 
> Here is my [Tumblr](https://thebookmen2-fics.tumblr.com/) the inbox is open and updates/any news is posted on there!  
> And here is my [Discord chat ](https://discord.gg/6Ry7xj3) but it is mostly my other story FAL which is the bnha fic that has a lot of my focus right now ;-;

**Author's Note:**

> This series is...less unbetaed and will probably only have small chapters? sorry? ill make it up to u reader? 
> 
> [words] = Squip  
>  _'words'_ = Jeremy  
>  _*words*_ = Michael
> 
>  
> 
> Here's my [Tumblr](https://thebookmen2.tumblr.com/post/171268170102/be-chiller) if you want to talk fandoms or see how my fics are progressing slowly plus u can always scream at me there if u wanted I don't bite. Much...


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